AAFA Lauds TPP Changes to Japanese Footwear Rules, but Industry Decries Ongoing Trade Barriers
The U.S. appears to have cut barriers to leather footwear exports to Japan through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the American Apparel and Footwear Association said in comments (here) to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for the 2015 National Trade Estimate report. U.S. apparel groups and retailers have long fought to dismantle those barriers, which involve a strict tariff-rate quota (see 14040816). USTR hasn’t yet disclosed the text of the TPP pact. The agency asked for industry comments in April (see 1508180030).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
AAFA remains, however, concerned about a wide range of ongoing trade impediments, including growing chemical management, product safety and labeling requirements, it said in the comments. “In today’s global supply chain, goods are often manufactured in bulk for a variety of markets all over the world,” said AAFA. “Each market having its own specific requirements make it very difficult to deliver products efficiently and adds unnecessary delays and costs on manufacturers that eventually trickle down to the consumer level.” Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations provide a key opportunity to harmonize those rules, the comments said.
The association railed against an “import-balancing” policy in Argentina. The World Trade Organization ruled against that policy, which requires importers to also export a certain amount of product (see 1501150029). AAFA also criticized trade barriers in Brazil, India, Canada, Mexico and other countries.
Trade barriers are continuing to rise across the globe, said the National Association of Manufacturers in comments (here). NAM lashed into many of the same countries criticized by AAFA. “Argentina, Brazil and India all maintain average applied tariffs that are at least three times higher than equivalent U.S. rates, according to data compiled by the WTO,” said NAM. “Indian tariffs can range as high as 100 percent for certain automobiles and 300 percent for textiles and it just raised tariffs in late-2014 on certain telecommunications equipment. This equipment is covered by the WTO Information Technology Agreement, to which India is a Party, and should be providing duty-free treatment entering the Indian market.” Brazil hiked duties on roughly 100 products in the past three years, and a range of countries are raising duties on steel products in particular, said NAM.
A number of telecommunications groups also submitted comments to USTR. The Information Technology Industry Council told the agency (here) that increasing data localization practices by foreign governments threaten U.S. and global economic growth. ITI members have "experienced a significant increase" in the use of localization measures across the globe, the comments said. "ITI is greatly concerned about the impact of such digital protectionism on international trade and investment, innovation, and the ability of people and businesses all over the world to benefit from free and open flows of information and data through the Internet and Internet-based technologies," the group said.
The group also raised issues with foreign customs valuation of software. "Numerous countries in West Africa, including Cameroon, Ghana, and Senegal, have used inconsistent methodologies for valuation of software for the purposes of assessing Customs duties," it said. The public comment submission period for the USTR report ended Oct. 28, but comments were only being made available by those who filed them, not the government.
It will be increasingly "important to monitor digital trade barriers," the Computer & Communications Industry Association said in comments (here). CCIA detailed how recent moves "to restrict online information for alleged copyright reasons violates current trade agreements"; how Internet censorship has affected countries in Asia, the Middle East and Russia; and problems companies face following the European Court of Justice's ruling earlier this month that declared the U.S.-EU safe harbor agreement invalid, in its comments. "As the economy evolves, the NTE will need to increasingly investigate and respond to barriers to digital trade if the Internet and Internet-enabled services are to continue to be export growth leaders," said CCIA CEO Ed Black in a news release.